We're a Family
by You'dTearThisCanvasSkinApart
Summary: Kurt and Blaine have a son, Max. these are just some of the adventures they go on as a family.
1. Bedtime

It was 8pm on a Friday night and Kurt was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner, humming to himself quietly. Blaine quietly crept up behind his husband and slipped his strong arms around Kurt's slim waist, resting his chin on his shoulder. Kurt jumped ever so slightly, surprised at Blaine's sudden presence.

"It's just me, silly" Blaine whispered into his ear, smiling at Kurt's surprise.

"Good." He replied. "If it was anyone else, then I'd really need to be concerned," he said, turning his head to peck Blaine on the cheek. Kurt felt the soft vibrations through Blaine's chest pressed against his back as he chuckled softly.

"Where's Max?" Kurt asked. Their curly haired, six year old son was usually glued to the television or scribbling with crayons at the kitchen table right about now.

"In his room, playing with the little toy cars your dad got him for Christmas. He loves them, you know. We should call and thank Burt." Kurt hummed his agreement.

"Shouldn't he be going to bed soon, hun?" Kurt asked him

"Yeah, I was just on my way to tuck him in. But is it so wrong for a man to come hug his husband before putting his son to bed? Hmm?" Blaine teased with a smile in his voice.

"Well, when you put it that way..." Kurt put the dish he was washing down and turned around in Blaine's arms to face the man behind him. He draped his arms around Blaine's neck and pulled him in for a soft kiss. After pulling away Kurt tried to say, "He should really be getting to bed." But Blaine cut him off with another quick kiss.

"Yes, dear," he said brushing the tip of his nose against Kurt's.

"I love you," Kurt whispered.

"Love you, too," Blaine replied and placed one last kiss on the tip of Kurt's nose. He reluctantly pulled his arms from around his waist and went to go tuck in Max.

Blaine walked up to the open door of his son's room and leaned against the door frame. Max's back was to the door, completely absorbed in his toy cars, making sound effects and everything. Blaine laughed softly, adoring the whimsy and joy of the child in front of him. His child. Even after six years, he still could barely believe he was a father. It seemed like only yesterday, he and Kurt had gotten married and settled down...

Pulling himself out of his day dream, Blaine pulled his attention back to Max. Walking into the room, he made his footsteps heard so he didn't startle the boy. He bent over, wrapped his arms around the little bundle of joy, and tickled his ribs, pulling a squeal of laughter out of Max. He dropped his toy cars as his dad scooped him up in his arms and pulled him close.

"Daddy!" He exclaimed, a smile spreading across his small face.

"Hey there kiddo. Having fun in here?"

"Yep!" Max said, very quick with his answer. Blaine chuckled at his son.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but it's gettin' close to bed time. How 'bout I help you put your toys away, then I'll sing you a song, sound good?" Max's face fell when his dad told him he would have to put his toys away, but immediately lit up again hearing that he would get a lullaby. He loved his daddy's songs, they always let him go to sleep happy.

Blaine set Max down on the dusty blue carpet again and got down to the ground to gather up the scattered toys. Max helped him scoop them all up and put them back in his toy box.

"Alrighty, now that that's done, you ready for bed?" He asked his son, who nodded in reply.

"PJ's on?"

"Yep!" Max replied enthusiastically as Blaine began their nightly check list.

"Teeth brushed?" Max opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again, not quite as quick to reply to that one.

"Maybe?" he tried. Blaine gave him a fake disapproving look.

"Go brush those teeth, buddy," he told Max in all seriousness. The boy padded out of the room reluctantly, knowing there was no use in lying. When he came back, Blaine was sitting on the edge of his bed after having fluffed his pillow and pulled his covers down.

"O.K. Now I think we're ready for bed," he said as Max climbed into the bed clutching a well worn teddy bear. Blaine leaned over and turned off the lamp on the bedside table and pulled the covers up to Max's chin.

"Which song do you wanna hear tonight?" Blaine asked. After a moment of thought, Max piped up with, "The one about the moon!" Blaine smiled at his enthusiasm, laughed slightly and said, "O.K." He rested a hand on Max's side, then he began to sing.

_Wake up, I'm lonely, let's talk about how we_

_Love to talk on the telephone_

_We would hang up and go back to absolutely nothing_

_And by absolutely nothing I mean pick up the phone. The_

_Sun is out, the moon is smiling_

_In the corner of his eye he's crying for his_

_Next new arrival for the rest of the night._

_Good ol' moon is like me,_

_We want free but we're stuck in here._

Blaine felt Max fidget a bit, trying to get comfortable.

_I'll pick up the comics and sympathize with Linus_

_And the Z's that Dagwood leaves behind._

_As for me, I wouldn't mind just to join him along._

_I mean, just look at these two pictures can you tell me what's wrong. The_

_Sun is out, the moon is smiling_

_In the corner of his mind he's timing his_

_Next new arrival for the rest of the night._

_Good ol' moon is like me,_

_We want free but we're stuck in here._

Max's breathing began to slow a little bit and Blaine softened his voice slightly in hopes that Max would fall asleep soon. He eased into the bridge, slowing it down from how he usually sang it.

_No more pain for a while,_

_You and I could sit in the sun and smile._

_Maybe then, we'd be friends, yeah,_

_The moon, sun, and me,_

_And we could sing together in perfect harmony._

_Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo_

Max had now begun to snore ever so softly. Just then, Kurt made his way over to lean in the door frame of the room, watching his family adoringly, without them even guessing he was there. He was always amazed at how much love could seep through one song from Blaine. He loved how Blaine looked at Max, as if there was nothing else in the world that mattered right then except for loving the child in front of him. Sensing that Max had fallen asleep, Blaine lowered his voice to a whisper and slowed the final verse and chorus down even more.

_Wake up, I'm lonely, let's talk about how we_

_Need to find a better dream,_

_Cause it's getting much darker the sun is worn out_

_And I think it's time for you and I to get some sleep. _

_Oh, the moon is out, the sun is trying_

_Not to look upset, but man he's dying for his_

_Next new arrival for the rest of the night._

_Good ol' moon is like me,_

_We want free_

_but we're stuck in here._

The song came to a close, and Blaine brushed the wild, dark curls off his son's forehead and leaned in to kiss him where the curls had once covered.

"Sweet dreams, buddy," he whispered. Then he rose from the bed, pulled the covers up closer to Max's chin and gave the boy one last adoring look before turning and leaving the room. He almost ran straight into Kurt, not seeing his silhouette filling the doorframe due to the poor lighting. He fumbled over his own feet, but Kurt reached out and grabbed his hand, giving him some kind of stability.

"Of course you would be the one to wake him up after singing him to sleep," Kurt whispered jokingly.

"Oh hush, you," Blaine replied, pulling his husband down the short, dim hall by the hand. Kurt stopped him in front of their bedroom door.

"I love you, you know. So much. The way you are with him, seeing you sing to him every night...it just makes me love you that much more. He's lucky to have a father like you," Kurt looked Blaine directly in the eyes, squeezing his hand to hold back tears that were threatening to fall for some reason. Whether it was just from an overflow of love for Blaine or feeling as if he wasn't doing enough as a father, he couldn't be sure. Maybe it was both.

"Oh sweetie..." Blaine replied, and placed his free hand on Kurt's cheek, leaning in for a delicate kiss. He pulled away but kept his forehead touching Kurt's. "He's lucky to have a father like you. I've seen the way he looks at you when your holding him, when you're playing with him in the park. Hell, even when you walk into the room his face lights up. He loves you. You know that. And I love you. More than you could ever know. We both do, Kurt. Trust that, OK?" Blaine's thumb brushed across Kurt's cheek softly, catching a tear that had just escaped his eye and wiping it away. Kurt sniffled a bit and leaned into Blaine's touch. He nodded, knowing he was being stupid.

"I love you, too. More than anything," He whispered. And Blaine leaned in again, sealing his lips over Kurt's gently. Kurt's lips moved against Blaine's in response and he unlaced their fingers to cup Blaine's cheek in his hand. No one could say how long they kissed but even after pulling apart, Blaine gathered Kurt up in his arms and held him there, safe and protected. After a while, Blaine pulled back and looked Kurt in the eye.

"Let's go to bed, OK?" He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind Kurt's ear.

"OK," Kurt replied and let Blaine take his hand and tug him gently into their bedroom, closing the door softly behind them.


	2. Nightmare

Hours later, Kurt was sound asleep wrapped up in Blaine's warmth and snuggled under the covers. The soft sound of socked feet padding on the carpet drifted into Kurt's consciousness. A sniffle roused him more and he was sure he felt a new presence in the room. Something nudged him softly in the arm and his heavy lids lifted to show him Max standing at the side of the bed, puffy eyed and runny nosed. It was clear he had been crying.

"Papa?" he whispered. "Are you awake?" Kurt stirred slightly, carefully reaching out an arm to hold Max's small hand.

"What's wrong sweetie? Another bad dream?" Max had been having nightmares for the past few nights. Kurt was convinced it was all the left over holiday sweets Blaine let him have before bed, though Blaine thought otherwise.

The dim moonlight squeezing through the blinds let Kurt see Max's head bob slightly, confirming the nightmare. Kurt carefully pried himself from Blaine's grasp so he wouldn't wake his snoring husband. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and took his son's hand.

"C'mon. Let's get you back to bed," he told Max and he gently guided the little boy in front of him down the hallway back to the appropriate room. When they reached the edge of his bed, Max stopped walking.

"I don' t want to go back to bed, Papa," he said, barely audible. Kurt's heart clenched hearing the fear in his little boy's voice.

"Can you tell me what the dream was about, sweetie?" he asked tentatively, not sure if talking about it would help Max or just make him more frightened. Kurt sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over to turn on the lamp on the night stand, waiting for Max to talk. Max was still standing in front of him, clutching his teddy bear close to his chest.

"It was really scary..." he murmured into the bear, just loud enough for Kurt to hear. Then, without much warning, he climbed into his papa's lap and snuggled up against his chest. Kurt pulled him in close and wrapped his arms around his son. He knew himself what it was like to have nightmares since they kept him up for most of his high school years when the bullying got to be too intense. Kurt opened his mouth to ask Max more about the dream when Max stared all on his own.

"You and Daddy were gone. I looked all over the house for you but I couldn't find you guys anywhere. All of your stuff was gone too. I was all alone and I-I didn't know what to do. I called out to you and everything and I just- I- I started crying and no one came and I didn't know what to do Papa." Max had tears running down his cheeks and was sniffling nearly every other word now. Kurt just pulled him in closer to his chest and rocked him gently.

"Oh, my sweet boy," he said placing a kiss on top of his wild curls. "You're OK now. Daddy and I are here. We're not going anywhere, ever, got that? We will never leave you, Max."

"Never ever?" Max breathed out through tears.

"Never ever. I promise," Kurt replied clutching the small boy closer. Seeing Max so frightened nearly scared him just as much as the dream had scared Max. He hated seeing him like this. He hated knowing Max had seen such a horrible thing in his dream. He hoped Max knew that he and Blaine would never, ever, not in a million years, abandon their son like that. Kurt knew it would hurt them as much as it would hurt Max.

"Do you think you can go to sleep now?" Kurt asked him, knowing the answer was probably going to be 'no'. As he guessed, he felt Max shake his head against his chest. Kurt considered warm milk, maybe reading him a story, but then he thought of another idea.

"How about you come sleep with me and Daddy?" Max picked his head up and looked at his papa then nodded his head 'yes'.

"OK, come on," Kurt said as he stood up, arms still full of Max who linked his ankles behind Kurt's back and had his head rested on his shoulder. His arms were tucked up underneath him, still gripping his teddy bear. Walking down the hall, Max's leg accidentally knocked into a bookshelf sending three or four hard covers tumbling to the ground.

"Oops," Kurt muttered and pushed the books out of his way with his foot. We'll deal with those in the morning, he thought.

"Kurt?" He heard a slightly worried voice call out his name from the master bedroom at the end of the hall.

"Looks like we woke the sleeping giant, huh?" he said to Max who giggled slightly. They crossed the threshold to see Blaine sitting up in bed, hair a mess, much like his son's, with a worried look etched into his face. His right hand was splayed out on the empty left side of the bed, obviously feeling around for Kurt. His features immediately softened upon seeing his husband and son walk through the door.

"Another nightmare, huh buddy?" He asked Max who turned around in Kurt's arms and nodded. Kurt placed Max in the middle of the king sized bed and noticed he was starting to rub at his eyes.

"Someone's getting sleepy over there," Kurt said lightly, smiling at Max. "I told him he could come sleep with us tonight since he didn't want to be alone. Hope that's OK with you, honey," he said to Blaine. Blaine leaned over Max and kissed Kurt lightly on the mouth.

"Of course it's OK," he smiled at Kurt who was climbing into the bed, then looked down at Max. "You OK, kiddo?" he asked Max, who nodded sleepily, beginning to drift off already now that he was in the safety of his dads' bed. Blaine smiled, leaned down to kiss his son, and lay back down on his pillow as Kurt did the same. He reached over the now snoring Max and found Kurt's hand in the dark and laced his fingers with Kurt's.

"See," Blaine whispered. "He loves you. It was you who he came to when he was scared. That should tell you at least something, hm?" Kurt rolled his eyes even though Blaine probably couldn't see him.

"I know, I know. I was being silly about the whole thing. But thank you," he replied and scooted closer to Max as Blaine followed in suit. Kurt leaned in and pressed a kiss to Max's temple.

"I love you, Kurt," Blaine never tired of saying those words.

"Love you, too."

Then Blaine began to hum softly, not for Max this time, but for Kurt. It was a soft melody, one that Kurt didn't quite recognize, but it lulled him to sleep within minutes. Blaine leaned over carefully to plant a kiss on Kurt's temple, then did the same for Max.

"Goodnight, my boys," he murmured as he drifted off into sleep.


	3. Favorites

Now that Christmas had passed and school break was just underway, and the Hummel-Anderson family was packing their bags to go visit Lima. Kurt was planning to stay with his family until a few days after New Year's before returning to New York, but Blaine and Max had to get back to the city sooner. Max went back to school on the 3rd of January, as did Blaine who had been teaching high schoolers for the past four years. Blaine loved his job, even though it was easily stressful; he had stacks upon stacks of papers and homework assignments to grade on the plane to Ohio. But he wasn't dreading going back to school. Mostly, he was dreading having to spend nearly a week without Kurt in the city. Well, maybe not dreading, but he certainly wasn't looking forward to it. Yes, he'd been away from Kurt for longer periods of time before, but it was different with Max now. He had to get a sitter to pick Max up from school and entertain him until Blaine got home around six in the evening. The first week back at school always meant teacher meetings running late and long vacation assignments to grade. Without Kurt to distract Max, Blaine couldn't possibly get everything done that he needed to at home. But the longer hours were worth it, knowing he would come home the ball of joy that was his son.

The time spent at the Hummel-Hudson home was a fun time as always. Burt and Carole cooed over Max, and Burt took advantage of what little time he had to spend with his grandson. Finn and Rachel were there for a few days as well, which was something Max had not been informed of. He was wildly surprised and simply ecstatic when they showed up; Max loved his Uncle Finn and Aunt Rachel nearly as much as he loved his dads. Finn was always up to play catch or race toy cars. Rachel was always up for singing songs and dancing to music. Blaine and Kurt even played on the grand piano a few times for everyone while Rachel sang and danced with Max. Carole cooked up a storm and kept them plump as berries each night with her delicious meals. Though eventually, their visit had to end. Max whined about his Papa getting to stay at "the fun place" when he had to go back to school, and while Blaine tried to reassure him Kurt would be home sooner than he knew, he wasn't very happy about leaving either. But their bags were packed and a car service was called. Before Blaine and Max piled into the car, Kurt approached Blaine with his hands behind his back.

"I'll miss you," Blaine murmured sadly as he slid his hands around Kurt's hips and pressed their foreheads together.

"Me too," Kurt said as he kissed the tip of Blaine's nose. "But it's barely a week, you guys will be perfectly fine. I'll be home before you know it." Kurt almost sounded as if he was consoling Max.

"I know. I just...I hate being away from you," Blaine replied with a sad smile.

"Well, maybe this will help," Kurt said as he pulled out a plastic yellow rose from behind his back. "To remind you I'm always there with you, even if it's not physically," Kurt explained. Blaine's face softened with love as he took the fake rose from his husband's hand. He was once again, floored at how magnificent Kurt could be. Just small little gestures like this made Blaine's heart feel as if it were about to burst with love.

"Thank you," he choked out softly through the tears welling up in his eyes. "This is stupid I shouldn't cry, I'm seeing you in a week," he laughed at himself gently, then leaned in to press a slow, long kiss to Kurt's lips.

"You should go, you'll miss your flight," Kurt told him before holding Blaine's face in his hands and stealing one last kiss.

"Love you," they said simultaneously. Reluctantly, Blaine pulled away and slid into the back seat of the car next to Max. Kurt closed the car door and blew a kiss to them through the window. He smiled at the rose clutched firmly in Blaine's hand, then turned and walked back to the house. When he reached the porch, he looked to see the black car turning the corner and nearly got choked up. 'You'll see them soon, stop being stupid', he told himself, but he cursing himself for allowing him to look back.

Once they had landed in New York, Blaine and Max gathered all their bags at luggage claim and went to wait in line for a taxi to take them home. They all but tumbled through the door of the apartment; the traveling had taken a lot out of the both of them. Max promptly plopped down on the living room sofa.

"Good night, daddy," he declared and fell asleep right then and there, fully clothed, with his suitcase toppled over next to the couch. Blaine laughed at his son, deciding to let him sleep there for now, and was nearly jealous. He desperately wished he could do the same. But he hung up his coat, rolled is suitcase down the short hallway, and began to unpack. After all, it was only 9:30 even though it felt more like midnight. Once most of his things were put back in their rightful drawers, Blaine changed into his pajamas and went back to collect his sleeping son. He peeled off Max's sweater and lay it over the arm of the couch, then swiftly untied his sneakers and scooped the boy up in his arms. He didn't bother with putting Max's PJ's on, knowing he would end up waking him, so he gently lay his son down in his bed and pulled up the blankets to his chin, just as he'd done nearly every night for 6 years. He sat down on the edge of the mattress and sung a little tune under his breath, more for his sake than Max's. Singing calmed Blaine down and relaxed him. As the ache in his chest started to blossom from the lack of Kurt, he knew sitting and singing, as he did every night, would comfort him. After a while, he began to feel silly, so he shut off the light, and made his way to his own empty bed.

The days dragged past with Kurt still in Lima. Of course there were texts sent and Skype calls made as well as phone calls, but it wasn't the same as having another body to hold and to love. Kurt saw how lonely Blaine was in their Skype chats; he heard the exhaustion in his voice, and could swear he felt the sadness in his texts. Blaine went through Monday. He went through Tuesday. He went through the worst day, Wednesday, where he had 3 classes in a row with the most unruly children. 'Just two more days', he told himself Thursday morning as he sat down at his desk. On Monday, the first thing he had done was place the yellow rose in his pencil cup. Every time he glanced at it, he would smile and a warm burst of comfort would flood his body. By Thursday, he was looking at the rose nearly every ten or twenty minutes. Thursday drew to a close, and that evening Max had his first melt down in quite a few weeks. It happened before bed, just as they usually did.

"Daddy?" He said, looking up at Blaine through thick lashes as he lay tucked into his Star Wars sheets.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Blaine said as he sat down on the edge of the bed

"I miss Papa," came Max's voice, now barely audible and heavy with sadness.

"Oh, buddy. I miss him too. I really do. But he's coming home Saturday, just one more day then you get to see him again," Blaine tried to comfort Max but he saw the tears well up in his big eyes regardless.

"But-but I want him home. I want him home now. I want him to tuck me in and tell me a story. And what if I have a bad dream? He's not here. He makes the bad dreams go away." Max was now steadily crying. He'd had distractions up until now, but it had been a few days and he was really starting to miss his papa. Blaine's heart clenched hearing his son say Kurt made his bad dreams go away. He knew how good Kurt was at calming Max down, especially after a nightmare.

"Tell you what, if you have a bad dream, we can call Papa, ok? It wont be exactly the same, but it'll be something, right?" That got a small nod from Max who was sniffling but had tried to stop crying.

"Will you sing me a song, Daddy?"

"Of course," Blaine said. And with that, he slipped easily into a familiar tune and lulled his son to sleep.

Friday seemed to drag on even longer than the rest of the week had. Blaine didn't even have a difficult schedule that day: just a freshman class first period, who was a little hard to deal with, then two staff meetings, and one senior class last period. He knew he shouldn't pick favorites, but his last class on Fridays had always been the best one to teach. The kids were respectful, smart, curious, calm, everything a teacher could want. He was the most open about his sexuality with this class. Not flaunting it, but he could be himself. One student had asked if he was gay once because they noticed he never talked about a wife, but he talked about Max all the time. Without hesitation, Blaine had told them yes, he was gay. None of the kids seemed to care all that much, and a few of them even smiled.

Once his final class of the day was underway, Blaine began to get excited. Just 45 more minutes and he would be done and he'd be that much closer to seeing Kurt. The minutes ticked by as he continued with the lesson on the fall of the Roman Empire. He got very enthusiastic about his lessons-which was one of the reasons his students actually enjoyed his class-so he didn't even notice when the door to his classroom opened. The students' heads all turned to the door to see a man standing in the doorway. He wasn't a teacher, he wasn't another student either. No one knew why a random man had come to Blaine's classroom, but a student raised her hand and Blaine promptly called on her expecting her to have a pertinent comment or question.

"Uh, Mr. Anderson?" She said and looked to the door. Blaine followed her gaze and his breath caught in his throat as he saw Kurt standing there with a smug little smile on his face. Kurt stepped into the classroom a bit further.

"I know I probably should have called or texted or som-" he began but was cut off by Blaine practically bounding across the room to kiss his husband full on the mouth. To hell with school, to hell with the class that was in front of him. His baby was home, and that's all he cared about. Behind him, he thought he heard some kind of smacking noise. He reluctantly broke the kiss to see his whole class applauding them. He grinned and pulled Kurt in for another kiss. So yeah, maybe it's ok to pick favorites once in a while...


End file.
